Class: 1972
Major: History
Residence: Edina, MN
Deceased: January 25, 2010
Alumni survivors: Ms. Martha J. Nelson ’74 (Sibling)
Nels P. Nelson, age 59, of Edina. Survived by wife of 27 years, Kathy; sons, Karl Nelson (fiancée Victoria Boughton) and Joseph Nelson; mother, Pauline Donaldson; sisters, Carol Heiden and Martha Nelson; brother, Eric Nelson. Preceded in death by father, Bernard Nelson. Nels spent his career at Barr Engineering and in recent years served as the Chairman of the Board. He was an active member of Christ Presbyterian Church. He was well respected and loved and will be deeply missed by his family, friends and co-workers.
Comments
Nominally, Nels and I were roommates on Second Burton during freshman year. He didn't spend much time around the room, so I didn't know him well. I did notice that he wrote many fine news articles in the "Carletonian." About a decade after we graduated I ran into Nels by accident in Dinkytown, Minneapolis. He apologized for "being a jerk" to me during freshman year. I never had thought that he had been all that bad, but I give him great credit for trying to right a wrong he thought he had committed. From the obit above, it seems he made a fine life after Carleton.